Hope
by Steph Berg
Summary: When Nathan moves to Tree Hill, he knows it's going to be the same: his father being an abusive bastard, his mom thinking everything was ok, and him getting into lots of trouble in and out of school. And then... he met Haley.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Tree Hill.

**Summary: **When Nathan moves to Tree Hill, he knows it's going to be the same: his father being an abusive bastard, his mom thinking everything was ok, and him getting into lots of trouble in and out of school. And then... he met Haley.

**A/N: ** Hello, guys, here I am with another one! This fic is AU, and I'd like you to keep in mind that Lucas and Nathan are not related in any way and Nathan is not from Tree Hill. There are a lot of other facts to point, but I'm sure you guys will get it from reading the story. Anyways, I just hope you like it and leave a review. It always makes my day!

**Chapter 1**

The house was apparently empty as he was getting ready to his first day in Tree Hill High. Nathan focused on finishing cooking his pancakes, while drinking his orange juice, a distracted expression on his face. He was sleepy and in a terrible mood already - he was surely not a morning person, never was... but what was bugging him the most was the fact that he was, again, starting in a new school. He knew it had something to do with him anyway, but he was tired of moving all the time.

He placed his pancakes on a plate and sighed, sitting on the counter to eat by himself. Nathan was pretty used to that, though. Since he was very little, he always did things by himself. His dad was constantly busy working or out with his friends, and his mom... well, his mom was usually really busy pretending everything was fine. Nathan would eat breakfast alone, go to school by himself, struggle with his problems the same way... it was nothing new to him. As time passed and he started to grow up more, he just kept his distance from his parents.

Since he started school, Nathan had trouble adjusting to everything. He would be rude to his teachers and friends, constantly getting into fights, and things just went downhill as he got older. The fights got more serious, and he started to get himself into lots of problems, which led him to get expelled from three schools in the same year.

His mom never cared too much about it, and his dad had a special way of dealing with Nathan's bad behavior. It never worked though. The boy would just be more and more violent each day passed.

Now he was seventeen - would turn eighteen in a couple of months - and would be starting today in another school, in a brand new city. Well, Nathan was not excited about it. His dad got a job there - a lousy one, as always - and decided they should come to Tree Hill and maybe things would work out for the three of them. Yeah, right, like anyone would believe that. Things _never _got better in that house, no matter what happened. His dad was always broke and violent, his mom always drunk and absent, and he... well, he was just standing in the middle of all that mess, hoping one day it would be over.

Nathan shook his head as he finished eating and wondered through the boxes they had yet to open, and entered his small bedroom. There was only a single bed, a small dresser and lots of basketball posters hanging on the wall. He sighed and got his backpack, heading to the front door.

It was going to be a new start... but he knew things would just turn out to be all the same, like always.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

His hair was messed up and he shook it a little more as he wandered through the corridors of the school. He was wearing a plain white T shirt and some ratty jeans, and his feet were in a worn pair of sneakers. Well, it was not like he had so many choices of clothes... so it had to do.

Nathan focused on the music blaring on his headphones and continued walking, not really caring about the kids checking him out. Some girls were really checking on him, some were getting out of the way, and the guys were either avoiding looking at his face or glaring defiantly or curiously at him.

Either way, Nathan didn't care about it. He just wanted to be left alone, maybe he could stay away from trouble a little bit.

A girl smiled warmly at him right after. She was blonde, blue eyed, really fit and totally beautiful. He raised his eyebrows a bit and smirked at her, thinking it would be really nice to score someone like that. He never had problems getting any girl he wanted, so maybe he could have some fun while there.

"Hey, you!"

Nathan didn't hear it, but he soon felt a shove on his back, and instantly stopped walking, taking his phones off. Three guys were standing behind him, two of them laughing lightly and the other one smirking amused.

"Are you deaf or what?" The guy asked.

Some kids walked away from there, as others started gathering closer. Everybody wanted to know what would happen.

"You really are deaf, right?" The guy laughed, as he got no response from Nathan. "Well, I can clean your ears for ya!"

The guy took a step towards Nathan and he rolled his eyes shoving the guy away without saying anything. Well, trouble just seemed to get on his way, this one was true.

"Oh, you're getting brave now, huh!"

Nathan glared at him, people looking at the exchange between the two guys. He knew this kind of guy... and at least for now he wanted to be away from that kind of thing. It would be bad if he got a detention or something on his first day there, Dan would not be happy, it was for sure.

"Just leave me alone." Nathan finally said, giving his back to the guy.

He continued walking slowly, but soon enough he was pushed forcefully to the ground, his face hitting it full force, as he let out a surprised and painful sigh.

"Not so brave now, uh, pretty boy?! The next time you smile to my girl, I'll shove your face all around this floor, you get it, punk?"

Nathan got it now... the guy was pissed 'cause his girl looked at him. How typical. Besides the pain, Nathan managed to quickly kick the guy's knee, making him go down almost instantly. After that, he grabbed the boy by the neck, and shoved his head on one of the lockers. The other two were still thinking if they should do something or not, but now Nathan was standing again, his jaw clenched.

Nathan kicked the guy forcefully and then spit at him with disdain as he continued his way down the hall. How nice, now everyone was looking at him that way again... so much for a calm first day of school.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"You have someone to tutor today?"

Haley took some books from her backpack while Lucas sat beside her in the classroom. She shook her head in negative, and he nodded at her.

"Why? You have something in mind?"

"No, nothing special. Just wanted to know if you want to come to Rivercourt with me today."

"I thought you would suggest we started working on our History project." Haley pointed to him, a small smile appearing on her lips.

"Or we could do that." Lucas raised an eyebrow, matching her smile.

"We can work on that after we come back... are you meeting Skills there tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Enjoy your days off before basketball practice starts for real."

Lucas chuckled and then opened his book as the English teacher entered the classroom. The other students went to their places, waiting for him to start. Haley opened her notebook, finding where she stopped taking notes at the last class. She was a great student. Haley really liked learning and actually wanted to be a teacher in a near future.

Mr. Henderson didn't waste time and picked up where they stopped, discussing some points of Grammar with his students. Haley was concentrated in his explanation when the door suddenly opened and she - like everybody else - turned to look.

He was tall, dark haired, beautiful blue eyes, obviously fit. His white shirt was tight enough so anyone could see he was ripped. There was something on him screaming bad boy and Haley was sure everybody got that. The guy closed the door with more strength than necessary and started looking around for a place to sit, ignoring the look Mr. Henderson was giving to him.

Lucas eyed Haley, maybe trying to know if she knew that guy. Haley shook her head, looking quickly at her book. She didn't want him to know she was looking. He didn't seem like a nice good guy.

When he found an empty seat, two rows away from Haley, but in the same direction as she was, the guy sat himself and just crossed his arms, ignoring the way people were looking at him.

"I'm glad you could find a seat." Mr. Henderson pointed, his eyes narrowed. "Are you comfortable? You are Nathan Scott, right?"

Nathan, as the teacher called him, looked at him slowly, his face like a stone.

He surely was not in a good mood, and Haley could see now the big red and purple bruise on the left side of his face.

"You are Nathan Scott, _right?_" Mr. Henderson asked again, as he continued to just look back at him defiantly.

"What's the point in asking if you already know the answer?" Nathan spoke for the first time.

The teacher sighed, as the tensions started to build up.

"We're working on page twenty nine."

Nathan didn't move, and Mr. Henderson decided to let it go. The boy was surely problem, and since it was his first day, he didn't want to provoke trouble.

Haley decided to concentrate on her books again, even though she was damn curious - for some unknown reason - to know what happened to him. That bruise seemed recent and it was getting worse, bigger and more purple. Was he getting in trouble right on his first day? Tree Hill was a small town, and she would remember seeing a guy like that. He was obviously from another place, maybe living there for a short time.

As Mr. Henderson started explaining another page, he was again interrupted, but this time it was the principal on the speaker.

"Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Henderson, but I wanted to see Nathan Scott now."

"You heard that, Nathan." He pointed at the door, as everybody started to whisper things, probably about the new guy. "Haley, could you lead him there?"

Haley froze instantly at the chair and suddenly the other students were looking at her. She took a second to recover and got up, nodding her head quickly and nervously.

"Just show him where the principal's office is and then you can go back."

"Okay."

Nathan was now looking at her, really noticing her existence. He opened the door and gestured with his head for her to go first, and she did. Haley didn't know if he was being gentle or if he just wanted her to lead the way.

Surprisingly to her, he catch up to her, walking by her side, his hands in his pockets and his head down. Now she could really see how he was taller than her and that information kind of intimidated her a little bit, at the same time it gave her chills. She could also feel how great he smelled, and that made her feel warm inside. So what was that? She was having a crush on a guy she didn't even know?

"Seems like I'm already in trouble." He spoke a little later as they took a right in another corridor. A small smile was playing on his lips and she looked at him quickly.

"Yeah."

"Well, I think I broke my own record." _Dad will flip. _

"The principal's office is that one." She stopped walking and he did the same, looking at where she was pointing. Nathan nodded.

"Thanks, Haley. See you around."

Haley nodded and walked away. So he remembered her name just like that? How nice.

Nathan smiled to himself, and shook his head, going to the door she indicated, knocking twice. He heard someone telling him to come in and he did.

Principal Brenner was a middle aged man, a little overweight, and with a few white hair starting to appear. Nathan thought he seemed nice, but didn't say a thing. He just took a sit and waited for the man to finish signing his papers.

"Visiting me on your first day, Mr. Scott? I'm honored." Mr. Brenner finally looked at him, and Nathan just shrugged. "I heard about the fight between you and Damien West earlier."

Damien West? So that was the bastard's name.

"He started." Nathan told him.

"I already talked to him. Damien can be a problem I have to admit that. But I was reading your file... and it seems like you don't stand behind. You were expelled from some good schools in the past few years, and we could say you caused some problems. I really do expect you to fit in here, Nathan... I do. But in order to do that, you have to stick by the rules. Don't be late for your class, don't get into fights, and respect your teachers." He sent Nathan a pointed look. "I don't want to hear anything about you disrespecting or harassing any students or employees here, you understand? Your file says a lot of things, but I really want you to make things different while you are here in Tree Hill High."

"So tell that idiot to fuck off. I was not going to stand there and let him hit me like that, he got what he deserved."

"Watch the language, boy." Mr. Brenner warned. "I told you I talked to Damien earlier. I'm just remembering you that we have rules here. Try to concentrate on your study, get your grades up. And stay out of problem."

"Can't really promise you that. Can I go now?"

"Go straight back to your class, Nathan. I hope not to see you in here again."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nathan dropped his backpack on his bedroom floor and then laid on his bed, looking to the ceiling. It was almost dinner time and he was starting to get hungry. The house was in deep silence and he had a good shot that his dad was out drinking again, and he didn't know if it was a good or a bad thing.

He closed his eyes slowly, feeling slightly tired. He heard the footsteps approaching but didn't open his eyes, flinching a little when he felt his mom's fingers caress his hair carefully.

"I didn't hear you coming in, Nathan."

He opened his eyes and sat in his bed, escaping his mom's touch. Deb tried to touch his face, right on his bruise, but he didn't permit.

"Don't touch me." Nathan told her without looking her in the eye.

"What happened?"

"Like you care."

Nathan decided to leave the room, going to the kitchen instead. He heard her following him closely but never looked at her. Deb continued looking at him while he was pouring some water in a glass, unsure of what to do or say.

"Did Dan..."

"No, I got in a fight, ok?" He interrupted her right away, his temper rising instantly. "Now you can stop acting like you care."

"Don't say that, Nathan."

"I'm not a kid anymore... and I am tired of it. I'm tired of Dan and you... I'm tired of living like this."

"You know I love you, Nathan... and so does your dad."

He shot her a look and Deb insisted.

"You know he does."

"Yeah, and he has a hell of a good way of showing it, don't you think?" He forgot all about his water and walked to the front door, exiting the house before she could say anything else.

With his mind full of thoughts, he wandered through the streets, his hands deep in his pockets and his eyes glued on the floor. Silently he asked himself when all of that would have an end. He just wanted to be normal.

**TBC**

is jeans were Hius


End file.
